Most of the complaints that people make against autorickshaw drivers is in respect of their habit of stopping the vehicle suddenly on road without giving any indication, said Assistant Commissioner of Police A.V. Ramana on Tuesday.
He was addressing a sensitisation meeting with autorickshaw drivers belonging to different unions, as part of the ongoing month-long campaign on ‘road safety and traffic awareness', at the Krishna District Lorry Owners Association (KDLOA) building.
He asked autorickshaw drivers to become more aware of traffic rules during the programme. “During the awareness programme, we will educate you and in the later stages we will act in a strict manner,” the ACP told the drivers. Noting that drunken driving was a common habit in most of the drivers, he called upon the drivers to make their colleagues give up the habit. The role of autorickshaw drivers in making Vijayawada an “accident-free city” was very important.
Motor Vehicles Inspector (MVI) T. Jayapal Reddy asked the drivers to remove music system from autorickshaws, as the playing of music could affect their concentration.
Autorickshaw drivers should have a fresh mind for a perfecting driving on busy roads and sudden application of brakes could even cause overturning of the vehicle and an accident, he cautioned.
Stress on maintenance
Traffic Sub-Inspector K. Venkateswar Rao asked autorickshaw drivers to go in for maintenance of their vehicle at least once in a week. “Just as each APSRTC bus goes off the road one day every week for servicing and maintenance, autorickshaws too should follow this,” he said.
Autorickshaw drivers' union representative M. Jeevan assured the police and transport officials on behalf of the drivers that they would follow traffic norms to reduce accidents.
“All the drivers have the responsibility to protect the live of passengers,” he said. An APSRTC driver K. Sambasiva Rao said that the drivers of autorickshaws and APSRTC buses had a greater role to play in implementing traffic norms.
KDLOA president P. Raghavendra Rao, secretary Nagumothu Raja and others were present at the meeting.
